


On the Opal Sea or How Kestra Came to Be

by joely_jo



Category: Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Betazed, But it's lovely too, Character Death, Established Relationship, F/M, Honeymoon, Imzadi (Star Trek), Love, No really it's the filthiest thing I've ever written I think, Opal Sea, Parenthood, Planning for a baby, Plans For The Future, Pregnancy, Sex, USS Titan, this is filthy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:40:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29359659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joely_jo/pseuds/joely_jo
Summary: Six years after the events of Nemesis, Will and Deanna finally get to take their honeymoon on the Opal Sea where they find themselves considering the future, the past and their family.He pulled back, filled suddenly with the energy of a spontaneous idea. “Deanna?”She opened her eyes and looked up at him, mildly annoyed by his breaking away from their kiss. “What is it, Will?”“Let’s go away. Just you and me. Leave Thad here with your mother.”“What?”“Let’s go away,” he repeated. “A week. Let’s have that honeymoon we never got to have.”
Relationships: William Riker/Deanna Troi
Comments: 12
Kudos: 31





	On the Opal Sea or How Kestra Came to Be

**Author's Note:**

> This started life as a story that had been half-forgotten on my hard drive for the best part of six months, but ended up getting an injection of creativity after a rewatch of Picard. Oh, and it somehow ended up being the raunchiest thing I've ever written. If that sort of stuff doesn't appeal, I'd turn back now. Probably best not read at work. ;)

On the Opal Sea or How Kestra Came To Be

There was something about walking up the wide gravelled driveway to the Fifth House that made Will Riker nervous, even after all these years. Its massive frontage made from Betazoid bluestone bricks towered upwards into four huge gables with a fifth even larger gable right in the centre, beneath which the intricately carved dark wood entrance doors were positioned. Sunlight glinted off the dozens of windows and made him squint as he regarded the structure. The house had been rebuilt after the occupation and Lwaxana had gone to extreme lengths to recreate it in the way it had been before the Jem Hadar gutted and stripped it. It looked almost exactly as it had done when, as a young junior lieutenant, he’d made this walk for the first time to collect Deanna for a first proper date all those years ago when he was stationed here.

Back then, he’d been so nervous about meeting Deanna’s mother, having heard the gossip around Rixx that she was a formidable presence and not one for holding her tongue, that each step along the driveway had seemed like an effort. Now, he was more likely to receive a pleasant greeting, given that he and Deanna had been married now for six years and Thaddeus was with them, but he still couldn’t help the slight flutter in his stomach. Deanna sensed his hazy anxiety and looked up at him with an amused smile. “My mother will be thrilled to see us, Will,” she said and gave his hand a squeeze. “What makes you think she won’t?”

He chuckled wryly. “Oh, it’s a visceral response. Going back to this house is like Theseus facing the minotaur again.”

She joined him in his humour. “So does that make me Ariadne?”

He didn’t reply to that one, but laughed out loud. Thad, who had been walking a short distance in front, heard his father’s amusement and turned, but his enquiry as to why Will was laughing was cut off by the doors to the house opening and a familiar shriek sounding out.

In a flare of purple silk, Lwaxana swept out of the door and almost ran the thirty metres or so down the driveway. “Thaddeus, my little one!” she cried as Thad squealed in return and hurtled towards her, his sneakers skidding in the gravel. They met in a near-collision and Lwaxana hefted the boy up and engulfed him in her arms. Will watched the overdue reunion and grinned. Whatever you had to say about Lwaxana Troi, it was certainly true that she never did anything by half measures and that included grandparenting.

Crushed in his grandmother’s embrace, Thad’s voice was muffled as he replied, “Hi Granny.”

After a few moments, Lwaxana released him and he slid down the front of her dress to land back on the ground. “Ooh, look how much you’ve _grown_!” she exclaimed as she ruffled his thatch of dark hair and stood back from him appraisingly. “I can’t believe it! How old are you now? You can’t be more than three?”

“I’m five,” replied Thad, laughing at Lwaxana’s pretence of ignorance. “I start school soon.”

“You do? Oh my goodness, what a thing! I think you’re growing up far too fast, we must stop you.”

Thad giggled, glancing at Will. “I can’t stop growing, Granny.”

“Oh, yes you can,” declared Lwaxana, straightening up and putting her hands on her hips. “When you’re in this house, there is to be absolutely _no_ growing up done at all. Do you hear me? You stop right now.”

She raised her hand for a high five and Thad obliged, grinning at the prospect of time spent with his grandmother. Like partners in crime, the pair of them would be inseparable over the next two weeks, rarely pausing for breath. Will had learned that it was far better to allow Lwaxana to do whatever she wished with Thad while ever they were together for, if nothing else, it allowed he and Deanna to have some time alone. 

“Mother,” said Deanna, her smile as broad as Will had seen it in some time, and went to Lwaxana. It had been over a year since they had seen Lwaxana and even longer since they’d been back on Betazed, so the joy Deanna felt at seeing her mother again was obvious. Will stood back, watching them embrace. Despite the way their personalities sometimes clashed, he knew that Deanna loved her mother dearly and had missed her – subspace messages just didn’t feel quite the same as time spent together.

“Deanna, darling,” said Lwaxana as she pulled back. “It is so good to see you again.” She turned to Will. “And you, Will… Come on in, all of you. I’ll get Homn to make us some tea and I think I might get out that freshly baked…” she glanced conspiratorially at Deanna and then Thad, “…chocolate cake.”

“Oooh, yes!” exclaimed Thad.

***

“Are you glad to be back, then, Imzadi?”

Will slipped his arms around Deanna’s waist as she stood on the balcony overlooking the gardens, her elbows resting on the stone balustrade. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head and breathed deep of the warm scent of her. It was late, near enough full dark and two of Betazed’s moons could be seen in the skies above them, their pale light filtered through wispy pinkish clouds. Replete with food from an extensive five course meal, they’d left Lwaxana reading books with Thad in his bedroom and escaped to their own room. The night was warm so Deanna had flung open the double doors onto the balcony and disappeared outside, while he’d gone to the bathroom.

“Mmmm…” she replied, turning her head and reaching up for a proper kiss. “It is good to be here again. I know this wasn’t your first choice of destination, Will, but really, it is appreciated.”

“Thad is happy too,” he said, by way of acknowledgement of her comment.

“So happy. I don’t think we’ll see much of him these next two weeks if truth be told. My mother has a list of activities planned that would rival any professional childcare provider.”

Will laughed, once again nuzzling into her hair. “Suits me,” he said. “Means I get you all to myself.”

“A rare occurrence, indeed.”

“Maybe we should take advantage of the peace and quiet?”

“Now?”

“As good a time as any…” He turned her in his arms and leaned in. For a long moment they kissed softly, with no urgency or expectation beyond the desire for shared contact and the time to enjoy that. Their lives as senior officers and parents often left them with little time for themselves and as the minutes flowed by, Will realised how much he’d missed just being alone with her, with no interruptions and no sensation of snatching time out of a busy schedule. He pulled back, filled suddenly with the energy of a spontaneous idea. “Deanna?”

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, mildly annoyed by his breaking away from their kiss. “What is it, Will?”

“Let’s go away. Just you and me. Leave Thad here with your mother.”

“What?”

“Let’s go away,” he repeated. “A week. Let’s have that honeymoon we never got to have.”

She stared at him. Her face was blank, almost shocked by the suggestion. “The Opal Sea?”

“Why not? We’re on Betazed. It’s not as if we’re half way across the quadrant. We’re here for two whole weeks so we can come back and make nice with your mother afterwards.”

He stopped talking, wondering if he’d oversold it, for she was totally silent. Then, suddenly, her expression changed and a huge, brilliant smile lit her up. “All right, let’s do it,” she said. Will grabbed her by the shoulders and grinned widely. 

“Thad will be fine here,” he said, offering her reassurance that he wasn’t entirely sure she even needed. “And we can have the sun, sea and waves all to ourselves after all.”

“Will we find a solar catamaran now though? At this late notice?”

“Maybe. I’ll do some research tomorrow, see what I can come up with. There may have to be a few compromises, but we’ll sort something.” He paused, thinking aloud. “Is your mother doing to be okay with us flying off like this?”

“My mother will be in her element. In fact, she’ll probably encourage us.” Will released Deanna from his arms, still grinning. “I’ll go and ask her now and make sure Thad’s in bed, then…” She pressed her hands against his chest and rubbed gently, a wicked smile pulling at her lips. He swallowed and breathed in deep. 

“Mm, I’m looking forward to it already.”

***

The Opal Sea glittered like it was alight with energy fires. The shifting waters were blue but twinkled with shocks of pink, purple, gold and turquoise as the light hit them, the colours caused by the opals that pebbled the sea bed. It stretched as far as the eyes could see. Will stood on the beach, his pants rolled up around his calves, ankle-deep in the water and pondered the beauty around him. As gentle waves lapped at him, he scrunched his toes in the grainy, translucent sand and allowed a sense of peace to envelop him like a warm embrace.

Behind him, a small town, Avalar, nestled around a harbour. The houses were squat, flat-roofed and covered with render that their occupants had painted in a range of pastel colours. Their small ovoid windows glinted in the sunshine and their gardens were little green squares that patterned up the hill that climbed away from the sea. The harbour and beach were busy with activity, but as was the way with most Betazoid settlements, at least those less metropolitan than Rixx and Medara, the level of noise was low. Will glanced back and saw Deanna making her way towards him along the boardwalk, the breeze licking at her hair. She held her hand up to shield her eyes from the sun and immediately caught sight of him and began waving enthusiastically.

“Hey,” he called when she reached the sea wall and began to walk down the stone steps carved into its side so she could join him on the beach. When she reached him, he slipped his arm around her and pulled her close. “How much longer?”

“Another ten minutes, apparently,” she said. “They’re just loading up our bags, programming the route and making sure all the systems are working properly.”

He hummed in acknowledgement. A few Fifth House strings pulled here and there by Lwaxana had secured them one of the original solar catamarans that Will had booked six years ago, despite the late notice, and the boat was now docked up in the harbour being prepared for them to disembark shortly. “Where are we heading for first?”

“Along the coast to Xanti, then out to the Iridescent Isles. I thought we could weigh anchor there for a few days. What do you think?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“There’s a food festival in Xanti starting today. Do you want to go?”

“Sure.”

“And I’ve got the route for a wonderful walk along the rim of the ancient caldera on El’tir.”

“Mm-hm.”

Deanna paused. “Will?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you even care what we do or where we go?” She looked up at him with tolerant amusement in her eyes. He cleared his throat, threw up some fairly transparent mental shields and nodded vigorously. Her eyes narrowed as she saw right through his attempt at deception. “Will…”

“Okay, okay, no I don’t really. I just want to kick back and relax. I want to lie in the sun, I want to eat and drink and sleep and I want to make love to you.” He paused and gave her a squeeze. “That’s not such a bad thing, is it?”

“No… no, it’s not.”

“That’s good, then.” Reaching down, he took up her hand and intertwined their fingers. “Come on, let’s go and get on board. I want to check this boat out.”

***

The rhythmic sound of waves caressing the sides of the catamaran as it slicked through the water filled his ears. On a sun lounger positioned on the small deck at the prow of the boat, Will lay with sunglasses on, his eyes closed against a sky so blue it almost hurt to look at it, allowing the warmth of the sun to penetrate him to his very bones. Already he could feel the tension oozing out of him, his body going slow and heavy with relaxation. It felt good. Deanna was in the cabin below, unpacking he presumed, and getting their room just so. She liked to fuss over the details before she let herself wind down and he’d learnt over the years that it was best to just let her do what she needed to do. He, on the other hand, had made his way here just after they’d slid out of the harbour at Avalar and hadn’t moved since. If he never moved again, he’d die happy.

He was beginning to drift off when he heard soft, padding footsteps alongside him and he turned his head and opened one eye. Deanna was there, holding out a long glass of a pale blue liquid that he guessed was Cyndri tonic. Her hair was swept up off her face and secured in a loose ponytail and her body fairly glowed in the sunshine. She wore a sapphire blue swimsuit which reminded him of a dress she’d had years ago and looked down at him with a smile. “Making yourself at home?” she asked with a hint of jest in her eyes.

“You bet.” He took the glass from her and drank deep before setting it down on the floor beside the lounger. She perched beside his hips.

“I would like to go to Xanti tonight,” she said. “I haven’t been there in years and it’s such a beautiful town.”

He looked at her and saw that she was desperate for him to agree. “I was just being flippant, Deanna. I do want to take it easy, but Xanti would be good. I’m sure the food will be great.”

She looked out across the water, towards the line of the coast in the distance. “I can’t remember the last time we spent a whole day together like this.”

“About five years ago,” he said, softly. “We had those few days on Risa not long before Thad was born.” He rolled onto his side and scooted his legs up so he could pull her backwards, further onto the lounger with him. His hand slipped around her waist and caressed her stomach. “You were about five or six months pregnant. Beginning to look like there was a baby in there and not just a few too many chocolate sundaes…”

She gave him a mock-irritated shove. “Will! That was my excellent core muscles. Courtesy of years of hard work in the gym, I’ll have you know.”

He grinned. “You were gorgeous. I couldn’t take my eyes off you. And neither could every other man in the resort. Remember the guy in the bar beside the beach? You in that purple bikini… I thought he was going to pass out every time you got within five metres of him.” She laughed despite herself and he gave her a good-natured leer. “And speaking of truly arresting swimwear…”

With a quick movement, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her down on top of him, giving a little thrust with his hips as he shifted her into a comfortable position, then ran his hands up her bare thighs and over her backside, giving it a playful squeeze. She smiled at him. “Taking advantage, Captain?”

“Uh, uh, I’m not ‘Captain’ here. I’m not even ‘Dad’. Not now. I’m Will…” He kissed her. “Imzadi.” Again, another kiss.

She hummed with approval. “Does that feel good?”

“It feels great.” Closing his eyes, he wrapped his arms around her and held her in his embrace. “I could lie here with you all afternoon.”

She lifted her head and looked at him. “Then why don’t we?”

“Hmmmm… Do you know, I don’t think there’s a single reason why we can’t.” He nuzzled the top of her head, breathed out with a happy sigh. “Get comfortable, Imzadi.” He pushed his mind towards her and she opened up to him, letting him slip inside; like a lazy cat, she curled around his consciousness, then laid her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

***

As the sun began to set, they disembarked at Xanti and made their way past the ranks of yachts and pleasure boats that were lined up in the harbour. It was clearly busy and they were not the only ones who had thought to visit the food festival, with at least a dozen others walking in the same direction they were. Already, the air was rich with the scents of all kinds of food. Will thought he could smell the sharp tang of jacarine amid the aromas of cooking spices, herbs and meats. “Smells good,” he observed as they headed towards the town.

“Mmm, really good. There’s nothing quite like freshly cooked street food on any planet, but especially your home planet.”

“Anything you’re hoping to find in particular?”

She thought a moment. “I’d love to find a bowl of srax and seaweed.”

“Which is?”

“A kind of shellfish, sort of like scallops, only the flesh is pale blue. They’re usually pan-fried in a spiced butter and served with seaweed that only grows in the shallows of the Opal Sea.”

The curving cobbled streets of Xanti were crowded with a tapestry of people – natives, off-worlders, men, women and children – all of them moving and pausing and turning and moving again. It felt to Will like the whole town was alive, thrumming with energy. Music came from the open doors of various bars and from a raised dais by the municipal building where a three-piece band were playing contemporary Betazoid pop songs, all of it competing for his attention. Market stalls with colourful awnings had been set up along both sides of the street, all displaying an array of foodstuffs enough to make even a fasting Vulcan’s mouth water. Will spotted huge silvery fish, dried sausages hanging in rows, vast bowls of rainbow-coloured salads, strange fruits, sun-dried vegetables, cheeses, breads made with all manner of grains and twisted and formed into a hundred different shapes, pickled eggs, trays of oysters, iced cakes, uttaberry muffins and sugar-frosted sweetmeats, flagons of fresh-squeezed juices and grand’ll wines from all over the planet. Traders behind each stall hawked their wares with wide smiles and flamboyant gestures, many of them shouting out what they had to offer in deference to the diverse crowds. It was an exhilarating atmosphere.

They walked arm in arm down the streets, stopping to try samples of this and that. Deanna had brought a woven bag with her that was soon full to burst with purchases and weighing quite heavily. As they reached the central market place where hundreds of temporary tables and chairs had been set out, it became clear that they had no chance of finding somewhere to sit, so they turned around and began to head back along the street they had come along.

“Do you want some dinner here or do you want to eat on the boat?” he asked when they reached the harbour again.

“Let’s stay here. There are some more stalls along the waterfront. Shall we try one of those? We could sit on the beach and eat.”

“Perfect.”

The beach was much quieter than the town itself and the few stalls that lined the road had no queues and their owners were eager to please. Deanna found her srax and seaweed and Will ummed and aahed over the choices before finally settling on something bubbling and fragrant that Deanna informed him was Hedayan curry. The swarthy looking chef cooking it served Will a generous portion in a waxed paper bowl alongside a pile of semi-circular chips made from a rough-milled corn. As they made their way down onto the sand, he stuck chips into the curry and crunched them.

“Enjoying that?” asked Deanna with a smile as she found a spot she liked and sat down.

“It’s very good. Beats the replicator any day.”

They sat in comfortable silence, eating and watching the tide retreating slowly away. Though it was full dark now, the boardwalk was well-lit and the yellowish light filtered down onto the beach. There were other couples further towards the harbour and it seemed that this was the preferred location for romance – one pair stood on the waterline kissing, while another walked hand in hand. Local children were still playing in the shallows, squealing and calling to one another, their noise always a welcome sound. His food finished, Will found his thoughts turning to Thad as he watched the kids sprinting against each other on the solid, wet sand. “Do you think Thad and your mother are all right?”

Deanna looked up at him. “I spoke to them before we got off the boat. They were making mud pies on the patio.”

Will grinned. “Excellent. So perfectly happy, then?”

“Perfectly.”

They fell silent again and Deanna leaned her head against his shoulder. Some of the younger children were being called home now and the large group began to disperse, the older ones slowing and gathering together in a circle. There were no doubt a few who had developed their telepathic abilities already, for the sound of their conversation quietened.

“This reminds me of summers spent at Lake Cataria when I was little. I would sneak off to go and play with the local children on the lakeshore and my mother would come yelling for me before the sun went down. She was always very nervous when I went off on my own.”

“Because of Kestra…” Will murmured.

Deanna looked down. “I suppose so.”

“Do you think of her?”

“Kestra? From time to time. I never knew her though, Will. Everything I have of her is what my mother has told me. Second-hand information. I wish that wasn’t the case.” She chuffed a small, wry laugh. “When I think of all the times I wished for a brother or sister when I was growing up, it is sometimes hard to imagine that I _had_ a sister, but never actually knew her. On my sixth birthday, I told everyone that when I blew out the candles of my cake, I’d wished for a baby brother whom I could play with.” She winced. “I must have upset my parents both so much.”

“I’m sure they’d have understood,” said Will.

“I hope so.”

Picking up a handful of the glittering dark sand beneath them, she let it pour through her fingertips, watching as it disappeared. Will watched her as she performed the action again and again, his mind thinking of the passage of time and history and long-forgotten desires.

“I never even hoped for a family,” he said, at length. His voice was low, confidential and peppered with a sadness that he knew she would pick up on. It had been years since he’d even thought of his father and the hot mess of his childhood, probably since he and Deanna had embarked on the journey of parenthood themselves and he’d worried that he was cursed to be as poor a father as his own had been. “My Dad made it very clear that he wasn’t interested in another relationship after my Mom died.” He shook his head, thinking of the unfortunate genetic abnormality of brain structure that had meant Betty Riker had died alone in the wilderness, completely unexpectedly, at just thirty-three years of age. “He raised her up onto such a pedestal that I don’t think anyone could have possibly competed with her. I think for a long time he blamed himself for not being with her when she died. I don’t know… maybe he thought that he could’ve saved her if he’d gone walking with her rather than staying at home to look after me? He never talked about it much, but I always got the feeling that he saw me as the reason why she wasn’t still with us.”

“It’s possible, Will. Your father was a man who believed inherently in his own abilities.”

“He was an arrogant pig, you mean,” said Will with a sour smile.

Deanna tilted her head. “Yes and no. It is very hard, as my mother found out, when someone you love dies unexpectedly, not to blame yourself. There is something of vanity in it, of egotism, certainly. But it is not rooted in selfishness, except perhaps the selfishness of wanting that lost person to be returned to you. Instead it is a manifestation of love. You consider the patterns of fate and often wonder if different choices you could have made would have changed the outcomes that ensued. I think your father was as guilty of that as my mother was, it’s just that they expressed their pain in different ways.”

Will frowned. She was right, of course. Deanna was always, always on the money; her wisdom had no equal and it was one of the reasons why he loved her so. But that didn’t mean that her observations didn’t still hurt. Will’s father had been dead eight years now, but his shadow still made itself felt. He turned his gaze back to the group of teenagers now gathered in a circle some distance away along the beach. They had lit a campfire and were laughing aloud together. For a strange moment, he imagined Thad with them, his black eyes aglow with the flames, enjoying the company of others.

“Deanna,” he said and turned urgently to look at her.

“Yes?”

“Let’s have another baby.”

She blinked at him, surprised. “You’re serious.”

“I am,” he confirmed. “I know we’ve never really talked about it and you’ve always said Thad was enough for you, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot recently and I’ve realised that I really want this. Everything we’ve talked about tonight has made me more and more certain.” He reached for her hands and took them in his, squeezing softly. “It’s something we should have. You, me and most of all Thad. The final piece of our family.”

She didn’t say anything for a long beat and he wondered if he’d rendered her mute with shock, then eventually, a smile bloomed on her lips. “Okay,” she said. “And you want to do this now?”

He grinned. “Well, not _now_ now. I think we should probably wait until we get back on the boat. Despite what all those trashy romance holos you watch suggest, sex and sand is a poor combination.”

She laughed and slugged him gently in the upper arm. “You know what I mean, Will Riker.”

“Just think…” he said wistfully. “We could have a honeymoon baby after all.”

“I think you’re letting your thoughts run away with you, Imzadi,” she said, climbing to her feet and then holding out her hand for him to pull himself up with. “We don’t even know if we _can_ have another child.”

Dusting his pants down, he sobered. “That’s something we’ll consider if it comes to that. But we have no reason to suspect that it won’t happen again. After all, Thad came along easily enough.”

“True,” she agreed. “And fortunately, the process is still as enjoyable as it ever was.”

He fixed her with a playful smile. “You better believe it. Now, let’s get back to the boat so I can rip your clothes off and show you just how enjoyable.”

She slid her hand into his, tolerantly amused by his amiable arrogance. “Oh, you’re such a smooth talker, Captain Riker. Always with the self-conceit.”

“Harsh, Deanna,” he said. “It’s not self-conceit at all.” He leaned in as they began to walk back up to the boardwalk, his shoulder bumping against hers. “I _know_ I can make you come until you scream.”

***

They barely made it back onto the boat before she was on him, tugging at his clothing and kissing him hard and insistent. His mouth opened to her, eager, and their tongues twisted together. They hadn’t been together like this in weeks. Last time they had, it had been quick and short, a moment snatched before their alarm sounded, the encounter made more tense than enjoyable by the possibility of being found by Thad. Tonight, it would be neither of those things. He pressed that thought into her mind like he pressed his lips to hers.

She tasted of sea salt and spices, of pleasure unbound.

His fingers clumsily worked the buttons on the front of her scanty purple dress, loosing it and letting it pool on the floor by their feet. His eyes filled with her as he looked down at the simple underwear she wore, skin-colour and made from the filigree Betazoid lace she loved so much. She hadn’t dressed to impress, but he was impressed nonetheless. “You’re beautiful, Deanna.”

Sinking to his knees, he pressed his lips to the soft skin of her abdomen, breathing in. His hands gripped her hipbones then skimmed their way up the smooth curves of her tiny waist. His mouth hungrily followed his hands, then those hands were plucking at the clasp of her bra, releasing it and flinging it to one side in a flash of pale fabric. Freed, her breasts hung low and pale, their nipples tightening and stippling in the cooler air. He took one in his mouth, suckling hard. With a cry of pleasure, she arched and gasped. She threaded her hands, warm as always, through his hair as he made love to her breasts.

When eventually he released her and climbed to his feet, she whined with the loss. One hand grasped her from behind and the other cupped her through her panties. “Fuck me, you’ve soaked these…” he murmured and he slid his finger under the elastic edging and through to caress her most intimate place.

“Must be what you do to me,” she replied and the spark in her cosmos-black eyes made him dizzy with want.

She pulled back, away from him and, chin dipped, looked at him through her lashes. A backward step, then another and then, when she was sure he was following her, she turned and walked inside the bedroom. He couldn’t help but stare as she called the lights on low and stepped seductively out of her panties. His eyes followed her movements, like she had magnetised him. “Mm, Will, wait there,” she instructed as he began to move, compelled, towards her. He swallowed and stopped, as bid. “Take your clothes off.” Her voice was soft but firm, the voice he knew she used when she was in command. It made his stomach flip. “Now.”

Slowly, a grin came over his face and he dropped his hands to fumble his shirt undone, his eyes remaining fixed on hers. He threw the shirt and it landed in a heap in the corner. A flick and a push of his hands and then his pants fell too. He stepped out of them. He watched as her eyes dropped to the tented material of his shorts and, in response, he slid his hand beneath the waistband. “That’s good,” she told him. “Take them off.” He eased them downwards and his cock sprang free.

“Like what you see?” he asked.

“Such arrogance, Imzadi.” She circled her hips with intentional tempting slowness. “I think you need to stop talking and come here.” He hummed his agreement. “I want to see you make good on that claim you made earlier.”

“Which one?”

He stepped towards her. “Something about making me come until I screamed…”

“Oh,” he said. He was right before her now and he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her down so she was sitting on the very edge of the bed. He stroked her hair back, then got to his knees between her legs. “That one.”

His thumbs parted her and then his mouth was on her. Deanna jumped as if he’d tagged her with electric current and he placed his hands on her thighs to keep her still while he rooted further. The scent of her was rich and his tongue lapped at the wetness pooling in her, sucking hard and then gentle, rolling around her clit, pausing then changing rhythms and motions. He could feel her body gathering beneath him, the tension in her multiplying until she was writhing and whining, begging for him to finish her, but he eased back, took his mouth away from her and waited.

_Will._

Her voice sounded fractured in his head.

_Will, you’re driving me mad._

He grinned against her warm flesh. _I know, Imzadi, I know._ “Relax, now,” he told her aloud. “Let it come.”

He went back to task and Deanna tensed and moaned. Her fingers were gripping the sheets into cotton fists, striving for purchase. “I want to…” she managed to voice. In response, he pushed his fingers into her, twisting and beckoning, keeping up the onslaught with his tongue.

“There you go… come on now…”

And then she erupted, her body bucking wildly as she came, the pulses of her muscles almost punishing in their intensity. Knowing her as intimately as he did, he slowed his ministrations, then paused, breathing against her thigh, kissing the skin there a moment and squeezing the flesh of her hips; he waited, waited, then went back in. Another few strokes of his tongue and she was coming again, this time shorter but harder still, and she cried out.

“There you go,” he repeated. “There’s my scream.”

He lifted his head and grinned at her lying back on the bed, chest heaving and her body heavy and boneless. His sated goddess.

As her breathing slowed, he crawled up her body and shifted her so she was fully on the bed. His hand trailed over her stomach. “Let’s make a baby…”

She smiled and pushed at his chest until he was lying on his back, then threw her leg over him and sat down on his stomach, her hands flat on his chest. Her eyes were playful as she tweaked his nipples, then rubbed at his chest hair and smiled again. “What do you want, Imzadi?”

“You,” he said. “Always just you.”

Her smiled broadened and she lifted and shifted, pushing down so she was hovering over his cock as it lay thickly against his lower belly. She hummed, her eyes closing, then began to rub herself on him. Wet through as she was, it was soon an easy slide of skin on skin and with a slight shift of her hips, he was there.

“Oh fuck,” he gasped as she swallowed him up. “That’s so good. You feel… ah, sooo good.”

She adjusted herself and he sank in further.

_Don’t move, Will._

“Deanna…” He peeled his eyes open and stared at her. How did she expect him to stay still? The urgency to thrust, to get inside her still further, was intense; he felt like if he didn’t start to move, his heart would stop. His hips started to bob, but she forced him down with her weight.

_I said no._

He groaned. But then she began to move herself, slow circles of movement, rubbing her clit against his pelvic bone. Head thrown back and arms slightly spread in balancing counterweight, she looked like an angel atop him. He reached down with his hand and pressed the pad of his thumb against her, so that with each spiral of her hips, she got that extra touch. In a few moments, she was gasping and breathing hard, her movements growing more and more erratic as she fucked him towards her next orgasm.

With effort, he held himself back, watching her seek her pleasure with single-minded intent. He loved her when she was like this, when she lost herself in their love-making and became that thing she never was, a selfish woman. It was a privilege to see her like this and he treasured it.

“Deanna, look at me. Imzadi… look.”

She shivered, then complied. Her eyes were darker than space, their focus on him wavering with each second that passed. Her rhythm was faltering and he knew she was about to come. “Touch yourself,” he told her, “if it helps.”

She did and a moment later, he felt her body lose its tension and she sank helplessly forwards, releasing a keening wail. He threw his arms around her and let her breathe into the hollow of his collarbone, recovering. “Was that good?” he asked as he stroked her hair, even though he knew the answer already. A small laugh tickled against his skin.

“What do you think?” she said.

“I’m going to go with good. Turn over.”

“Which way?”

He sighed as he considered. “I want to look at your face.” Without separating, they rolled together and then he was above her, nestled between her thighs. She pulled her knees up and he gazed at her. Her cheeks were pink from their exertions and her hairline damp, but she was utterly, completely, perfectly beautiful. He drew in a deep breath then pushed at her mind, begging for the embrace of her thoughts. Without question, she gave it to him. 

Forehead to forehead, they moved together. After all that had come before, Will was close within a matter of a few minutes, holding on desperately but not quite succeeding. She seemed to sense his agony and she bracketed his face with her palms, rubbing her thumbs in his beard.

“Imzadi… Come inside me,” she pleaded. “Please… I want you… Will, come…” Her words were his permission, heady in their meaning and the knowledge of what they sought to do with this act.

The heat of the room, the sound of sea slapping against the side of the boat, and skin against skin. All of it overwhelmed him. He gathered her up in his arms and pulled her close, even as his hips moved, even as he wished he could make his body disappear into her as completely and totally as his soul did. He wanted nothing more in that moment. He felt her last, faint orgasm as a ripple around his cock, then the pleasure in his mind exploded like a supernova, filling his senses with light.

_Gods…_

He heard her voice in his head and let himself go. Hips grinding into her, he chased his own pleasure as it became almost solid, as tangible in his mind as it was in his body. “Fuck, I’m going to…” he warned as he lost himself in stroke after urgent stroke.

_Come. Come inside me._

He groaned. Falling utterly still, he pulsed his release into her in a hot, wet rush. She wrapped her legs around him and pulled him in further, using them to hold him still while she milked him with a few deep squeezes of her pelvic muscles. Their eyes were fixed on one another, faces a breath away and eventually he dragged his mouth across hers to capture her lips in a lazy, messy kiss, soaked through with afterglow. He could feel her deep in his mind, curled like mist around his very consciousness, so close that he wasn’t sure where he began and she ended. It was blissful and achingly perfect – nothing he’d experienced with another even came close.

Slowly, he sank away to the side, his cock slipping wetly from her body and drew her close into his arms, twining their legs like threads. In the soft light of the cabin, she seemed almost ethereal, her skin aglow with warmth. She breathed into his chest, rubbing her nose in the hair there and together they fell loose and recumbent into sleep.

*** 

Sometime later, Will woke and realised that his back was chilled. The cabin smelled of sex and he smelled of Deanna – her scent was on his beard, a reminder of what they’d done. Slowly, he untangled himself from her, doing his utmost not to wake her, and padded towards the bathroom. He stood in front of the mirror and regarded himself. Hair wild, beard thick and matted with her juices, he looked a mess, but he smiled nonetheless. They’d had fun and who knew? Maybe they’d made a baby at the same time. He turned on the shower and slid beneath its warm rain, still smiling to himself.

When he came out of the bathroom, Deanna was gone. The sheets on the bed had been thrown back and the rumpled piles of their clothing still decorated the floor. He towelled himself off then pulled on pyjamas and slipped out of the cabin and up onto the main deck, making his way over to the helm and keying in the next destination. 

As the catamaran began to shift away from the harbour, its lights reflected in the darkness of the Opal Sea, he saw Deanna walking past the window, dressed in her favourite pink silk nightgown. Unaware of him, she went to the prow of the boat and leaned over the railing, looking out across the water. One of Betazed’s moons was full and bright in the sky above her head; it turned the water glassy with its pale light, cast a silvery sheen onto tendrils of her hair. From the seat behind the helm, Will watched her a moment before climbing out and joining her. “Which one is that?” he asked, tilting his head at the moon.

“It’s Avandar, the closest. You can see it every night.” She slid under his arm and he enveloped her in an embrace from behind, his hands slipping down to pass hopefully across her abdomen, his thoughts turning once again to the journey they’d started upon this evening. “If you look really hard just behind her right shoulder, you can see another moon. That’s Keylandar. She’s the smallest, the faintest and the furthest away. She’s almost always overshadowed by Avandar, so you only see her on certain nights.”

Will stared. Sure enough, the ghostly presence of another moon floated behind its much bigger sister, easily overlooked by all but a knowledgeable eye.

“You know how Earth’s moon is named after the goddess Luna?” she asked him after a while. He hummed in reply. “There’s an ancient story here on Betazed about a beautiful young girl who found a silver coin one day in the street. She came from a poor family and she could have taken the coin home and used it to help her family run their farm, but instead she gave it to a nameless beggar girl on the same street. The beggar girl turned out to be Avandar, the goddess of the moon, who had disguised herself to experience an anonymous life on the streets. When Avandar returned to the Temple of the Gods, she called the girl to the Temple and blessed her, raising her up to become the first daughter of the Fifth House as reward for the selfless act.”

“That’s a nice story,” said Will. “Is it true?”

“Who knows?” Deanna replied with a shrug. “But the girl who found the coin was called Kestra.”

“Ahh…”

She turned in his arms and smiled at him. “If we have a girl, I’d like to name her after my sister. What do you think?”

“I’d… I’d be okay with that, I think. But her middle name has to be Elizabeth, after my mother.” Deanna nodded and leaned up and kissed him. “What if it’s another boy?”

“Then you choose,” she said, nuzzling into his chest.

The boat churned away, out of the harbour and away until they were far out into the blackness, the lights of the town turned to mere specks on the horizon, and still she stayed pressed against him. Finally, as the boat slowed to a cruising speed, he said softly, “It would be kinda appropriate if we made a baby on this trip, wouldn’t it?”

Deanna pulled back and leaned back against the railing. “It’s probably unlikely though. My birth control can take a few days to stop being effective, sometimes even longer. Plus we’re a little older than we were last time. It might take a while.”

“Oh, I don’t think so,” he replied. He knew the feeling inside him was probably romantic and hardly grounded in science or reality, but something told him that it was fate. He grinned at her, seeing the moon reflected in her black, black eyes. “Something tells me the stars are aligned. Or maybe the moon… maybe it’s the moon.”

“Maybe,” she agreed, smiling at his uncharacteristic sappiness.

“But I don’t think that should stop us from trying every day,” he added. “Just to make sure.”

She bobbed her eyebrows playfully at him. “Sometimes twice a day?”

“As often as possible is probably best.” They grinned at each other. “Come here, Imzadi.”

And he reached for her, drawing her into a deep and languorous kiss, full of promise and hope, while above them, the moon shone down. 


End file.
